Hands-on tutorial

Edit text in PhotoCraft: change a PSD poster and keep type editable

Edit a poster headline and font in PhotoCraft, save a new PSD and reopen its type layers. Follow real desktop screenshots or the tested CLI commands.

By ArtCraft Reference editorial team · Content reviewed

What you will make

Replace the poster headline, change its font and reopen the PSD with the text still editable.

Method
Desktop app · GUI
Version
PhotoCraft 0.18.0
Platform
Windows x64
Tested
Practice posterDesktop result

This exercise uses the desktop interface. The original screenshots show Chinese interface labels. Results apply to the sample and version shown.

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PhotoCraft desktop app reopening the revised Sunday studio poster with Georgia 64 pt selected
The GUI-saved PSD reopened from disk. Georgia and 64 pt remain selected for Headline. View full size ↗

What you will change

The practice file is a small workshop poster. Its headline reads “Saturday studio” in Arial. We change it to “Sunday studio” in Georgia at 64 pt, save a new PSD and read the text layer back from that file. The other three text layers stay in place.

We completed this edit in the PhotoCraft 0.18.0 desktop app on Windows x64, then repeated it with the CLI. The interface in our screenshots is Chinese. The English instructions name the same controls. Our sample was created in PhotoCraft; we have not tested it in Photoshop.

Original workshop poster with Saturday studio in Arial
Starting file: four editable text layers above a solid background. View full size ↗

Desktop 1. Open the practice poster

Download text-source.psd, make a working copy and open it with File → Open (Ctrl+O). In the Layers panel, select Headline. The poster contains four Type layers and a Background; clicking Footer would change a different line.

Our machine had Arial and Georgia installed. The sample does not include those fonts. If Georgia is missing, choose an installed family you are licensed to use and expect a different width.

PhotoCraft with the original Saturday studio text and Headline layer selected
Before the edit. Headline is selected in the Layers panel, and the title reads Saturday studio. View full size ↗

Desktop 2. Replace the words

The text becomes shorter without moving its starting point. The document tab gains an asterisk because the change is not saved yet.

  1. Choose the horizontal Type tool (T), shown as 横排文字工具 in our screenshots. Click inside Saturday studio on the canvas.
  2. Press Ctrl+A while the text is being edited. Check that the words are highlighted, then type Sunday studio.
  3. Press Ctrl+Enter to apply the edit. Do not press Ctrl+A while an unrelated field or the whole canvas has focus.

Desktop 3. Change the font

With Headline selected and the Type tool active, use the font-family field in the top options bar. Enter Georgia and press Enter. Keep the size at 64 pt. If the suggestions are still open, choose the Georgia family.

The serif letters should now match the example below. Check the entire headline after changing a font: keeping the same point size does not keep the same line width.

Sunday studio in Georgia in the PhotoCraft desktop app before saving
After the edit. The top bar shows Georgia and 64 pt; the asterisk marks unsaved changes. View full size ↗

Desktop 4. Save a new PSD and reopen it

Use File → Save As (文件 → 另存为…) and name the file text-gui.psd. Keep the PSD format. Close the document, open text-gui.psd from disk, then select Headline again.

Our reopened file still showed Sunday studio in Georgia at 64 pt. Its four Type layers and Background were present. We also read this GUI-saved file with the CLI; it reported the same words, font, size and five-layer stack.

Reopened text-gui.psd with the editable Headline layer selected
Reopened from disk: the edited headline remains a Type layer. The source PSD was kept separately. View full size ↗

Repeat the edit with the CLI

For the command-line route, put text-source.psd next to photocraft-cli.exe and open PowerShell 7 there. These commands select the layer by name, make the edit, save a separate PSD and read it back. We ran them with the same 0.18.0 Windows x64 package.

In type.info, check text = Sunday studio, font_family = Georgia and size_pt = 64.0. An independent repetition confirmed those values and a five-layer PSD.

powershell
.\photocraft-cli.exe run .\text-source.psd --cmd layer.select --params '{"name":"Headline"}' --cmd type.edit --params '{"text":"Sunday studio"}' --cmd type.setStyle --params '{"font":"Georgia","size":64}' --out .\text-edited.psd
.\photocraft-cli.exe run .\text-edited.psd --cmd layer.select --params '{"name":"Headline"}' --cmd type.info
.\photocraft-cli.exe info .\text-edited.psd

Scroll to view all columns on a small screen.

CheckObserved result
Saved textSunday studio
Saved font and sizeGeorgia · 64 pt
Layer stack after reopening4 Type layers + Background
Canvas960 × 640 px · 8-bit RGB

Sources: PhotoCraft 0.18.0 release used in these tests

Export a preview for sharing

For a flattened preview of the CLI result, run the command below. PhotoCraft warns that the five layers will be flattened. Keep text-edited.psd, or the desktop result text-gui.psd, if the next person needs to change the wording.

Compare the PNG at its full 960 × 640 size. Check that the headline fits, the date and footer have not moved, and no letters touch the edge. A font can be saved under its family name and still look different on a computer that substitutes another face.

powershell
.\photocraft-cli.exe convert .\text-edited.psd .\text-after.png

If the result differs

  • No layer named Headline: use the supplied PSD or inspect your own layer names with info. A flattened photograph containing words does not have editable type.
  • Different spacing or line breaks: check the installed font before changing the canvas or text size. Our screenshot is evidence of our machine’s output, not an embedded copy of Georgia.
  • The PNG cannot be edited as type: reopen the PSD. Exporting a PNG flattens the text with the other layers.
  • The command reports an error: stop before the next step and check the file path, JSON quotes and selected layer. These examples were run in PowerShell 7.